As for next year...

I've been home for two weeks now and trying to stay busy.  I went up to Canada with my Dad and sister, and also I started working again about 3 days after getting back from France.  I'm working at the same restaurant, Pizzazz, where I was working last year.  I miss France sometimes but it's good to be home with family and friends!  Also everything seems so easy to me.. before I was used to figuring out how to communicate and live in a new country, and now I'm back home where everything is nice and familiar.  It's a good feeling.  

I'm pretty sure everyone knows this already, but in case you don't, I have renewed my contract for next year!  I got my job back, but I am moving schools and cities.  I requested to work in a high school in Strasbourg (the big city north of Colmar).  Well my wish came true, and I will be teaching at a school RIGHT in the city center.  I talked to my old principal and a few other teachers and they all say that it is a great school and that I should have a good experience there.  I went to visit before I left and took a picture of the building.  This next year will be a whole new experience because the school is about 4 times the size of my school last year and I won't be teaching my little country bumpkins anymore.  But I'm sure it will be different in a good way! I already got my plane ticket.. so September 17th I'll be on my way back to France!

My new home in Strasbourg
     Lycée René Cassin, the new stomping grounds

Au Revoir Alsace

Since I stopped working like a month ago.. you're probably wonder what the hell I do all day?  Well I have been finding ways to keep busy, that's for sure.  Now that the weather is finally nice I've been enjoying the sunshine and trying to appreciate Alsace before I leave.  The place where I live is so cute I still can't get over it!  I never want to leave :( 

Lucky for me the family I was living with at the beginning are literally the nicest people ever.. and they have loaned me their son's car for a few weeks.  Trains and buses are fine but having a car makes life a lot easier.  My best friend here lives north of Colmar on the wine route, and I have always felt soo bad that he's constantly driving me around.  So for once I've been able to return the favor!  

Last week my friend Doug and I took a little day excursion to the Zoo in Mulhouse, about an hour away from Colmar.  It's a zoo and botanical garden, and since it was during the week there was barely anyone there.  My favorite part of the day was the "jackass penguin." See photo below.  

This weekend my two friends that live in Aix en Provence came up to visit.  I am pretty sure I showed them the entire region and beyond within a three day time period.  I was really glad they came though.  They're good company, and it was good for me to do the "tourist" thing before I leave here.  We started off going to Ribeauvillé, a town on the wine route.  We walked around and saw the town, and went to dinner, where the girls sampled the regions specialties.  The next morning we saw two more villages on the wine route, called Eguisheim and Kaysersberg.  Did a little wine sampling, and walked around the cutest towns I have seen thus far.  Alsace is literally fairy tale land.  Later that day we went up to Strasbourg, saw the cathedral, etc, and went to dinner with one of my friends that lives in Colmar.  Finally, yesterday, we started the day off in Freiburg, Germany, which is right across the border.  The girls had never been to Germany and all they wanted to do was eat some German food.  As you can see this entire weekend pretty much revolved around food.  After that we met up with my friend who lives on the wine route and went to dinner in another little village called Riquewihr.  The girls left this morning, and I headed back up to Bennwihr to my friend's place for a nice relaxing day by the pool :) This weekend the weather couldn't have been more beautiful.  

Phew!  Lots of moving this weekend, I am exhausted.  This week I am helping out at my old school because I need to keep busy!   I am coming home next Tuesday!!  Way too soon.  It will be good to see my friends and family though :) 

      Riquewihr

Meow.  Be nice kitty...
bahahahah

  Map of the wine route, pretty sure I've seen it all

Wine and beers in Ribeauvillé
Eguisheim.. my faveeee
   Katie and me posing for our senior pics

Yes, this is a real town where people live. 



Pinot Gris. Yummy.
And more drinks in Ribeauvillé with Katie and Pierre

Scotty Land!

Leprechaun Man tour guide


Aussie Friends
Edinburgh Castle
A Highlander!  I wanted to take him home. 


So many sheep everywhere...

Hiya! Ok so last little trip update... I need to really think about this one because it was already like 2 weeks ago.  But, after Dublin, I headed over to Edinburgh.  I was supposed to be staying with my friend Chandler the whole time I was there, but long story short, Chandler was actually in Canada.. So I hastily booked myself a hostel.  I arrived late at night, so the first night I just hung out at the hostel, and took some time to relax from my busy day in Dublin (my life is so hard).  

The next morning, I got up and ventured out to see the city, by way of a free walking tour.  I figured it was the best way to see the town and learn some things about the history too.  I had the best tour guide!  He was this tiny little English man that looked like a leprechaun.  He was hilarious though.  He told lots of stories about old legends of Edinburgh, and showed us pretty much all of the important tourist landmarks.  I also had much better luck with the weather on this part of the trip too.  I think my favorite story from the miniature man was this one: Way back in the day, before plumbing, people used to keep all of the human waste from their homes in a bucket.  Late at night, they would all dump the waste buckets out the window onto the streets below.  Unfortunately this was done at the same time as most people would be leaving the pubs, as well.  So of course before dumping a bucket of pooh out the window, they would call out just to warn everyone below.  Well after a few drinks to numb your senses, you hear someone yelling out from a window,  what do you do?  I would look up.  So this, my friends, is quite possibly why we now use the term "shit faced."    

Moving on from that, walking around Edinburgh, I took the advice of one of my friends who lived there, and just tried to appreciate the fact that it's one of the few truly medieval cities left. Also how can you not love a city where there are random men scattered around playing the bagpipes and wearing kilts?  

When I got back to the hostel, I hung out with the other girls that were staying in my dorm room.  I went out for dinner and drinks with some Australians, who seem to be taking over Europe one hostel at a time.  Lucky for us, our hostel had the outstanding offer of "buy one get one free" drinks.  This offer should be illegal.  

During the rest of the trip, I did a tour of the castle, and then climbed up this mountain-like thing called Arthur's Seat to get a beautiful view of the city.  The castle was pretty sweet, they have some museums, the crown jewels, and some other cool stuff that I don't really remember anymore.   I also did a bus tour, which took me up to Loch Ness and the Highlands.  The views were beautiful, but I do have to say, it was a long haul!  I was on a bus pretty much for 12 hours.  But if I was in Scotland, I felt like I should see more than just the big city.  I was, of course, by myself.. but I met another Columbian girl around my age that was traveling alone too.  So at least I had someone to hang out with and have a chat during the loong bus ride.  Scotland is very.. green.  I guess that's the only way to describe it.  That night of the bus tour, my friend Chandler finally came back to Edinburgh!  I got to stay with her for the last few days of the trip, see her university, and meet her friends.  Also it is always really nice to see old friends from home over here.  Especially Cha, who I have known since I was like 5.   

So I swore this would be the last trip of the year.  But I finished my job, and boredom is starting to settle in.  We'll see what comes up! In the meantime I have been working on a way to come back here next year.. doing the job hunt thing, reapplying for my current job, and also applying the the university in Strasbourg.  Cross your fingers for me! 

24 Hours in Dublin

Well my time here is almost up (for now..) and I decided to take one last big trip.  I've always wanted to go to Scotland and Ireland.  I have a friend who is going to school in Edinburgh, so I decided to take the opportunity to go there while I had it.  I was looking up flights, and saw that there was a really cheap flight to Dublin from Basel, Switzerland.  Basel is only about 40 min away from me.  I also found a cheap flight from Dublin to Edinburgh.  It turned out it was cheaper for me to stop in Dublin than to buy a plane ticket straight to Edinburgh!  So there you go, that's why I had only 24 hours in Dublin.  (side-note: I flew the discount airline RyanAir and ended up getting charged like 50 euros extra for my luggage, airport check-in, priority boarding, and who knows what else they slid in there.  I guess we know why the flights are so cheap..I definitely lost money flying with them. Live and learn!)

I got there in the afternoon, and as predicted it was raining.  The whole time I was there!  The first day I just kinda hung out, wandered around town, and did some shopping(seriously so weird how different the fashion there was.. French peeps are way cuter).  I also saw Trinity College, which was founded in the 1500's.  That night I stayed at a really cute bed and breakfast.  I was at first a little hesitant because I was by myself, but I met some nice people that I shared a room with, so things worked out well.  

The second day I was there, I was flying out around 8pm so I pretty much had the whole day.  I had to spend the time there wisely since it was limited.  I considered Christ's Church, perhaps some well-known museums.  But clearly I had other priorities, so I got up, ate a huge English breakfast (it had been way too long since I had some good bacon), and headed straight for the Guinness Brewery.  It was about 10 euros to get in, but it was well worth every penny.  I obvi just did the tour to get the free pint of Guinness at the end.  No but they really did a nice job with this museum, they take you through all the steps and how the beer is made, show old advertisements, etc. I also found out that the Guinness company was founded in 1789.  That's an old beer. 

After I drank my Guinness, I decided to hit up a museum, since all of the museums in Dublin are free.  I went to the Modern Art museum and hung out there for a few hours.  I was pretty much the only person there, so it was nice to have the place to myself to look around.  Afterwards I hung out in a really pretty park that's just right out front.  Sitting in the park and looking through my guidebook, I realized that I missed out on something very important!  The Jameson Distillery!  I am NOT at all a big whisky drinker, but since it is my brother and his girlfriend's drink of choice, I decided I had to at least stop there in their honor.  I was too cheap to do the tour, but I did spend some time looking around the gift shop, and taking the opportunity to stay out of the rain for a bit!  After that the day was about over, and it was time to head to Edinburgh!  More to come...

That little spot on my camera won't go away.. help 

Trinity College

Christ's Church cathedral from the 12th century

Simulated rainbow inside the art museum

cutest park ever

MMMMMM Guinness

inside the storehouse

freshest pint I've ever had

Joyeuse Pâques

For Easter weekend I went to Aix-en-Provence.  Unfortunately the Easter bunny didn't find me there because I woke up without an Easter basket.  Maybe next year.  First of all the trip was ridic.. remind me not to travel on holiday weekends here anymore.  When I got on the train to go there, there was a girl sitting in my seat.  She apparently mixed up the car numbers, so me, being such a nice person, offered to take her seat since she was already settled in.  Well no good deed goes unpunished.  Long story short, I ended up sitting next to a French couple, and the girl was sitting on the guys lap and they were making out for like 2 hours.  Cute.  and not awkward for me or anything.  Then there was a bomb threat on the train line, so we had an hour delay.  Damn you terrorists! 

Once I got to Aix, I met up with my friend Katie, who I was staying with.  We lived in Avignon together and she is doing the assistantship this year too.  We went out to a traditional Provençal dinner and I met all of her friends.  They were all so nice!  That night we went out, and I was amazed at how many young people live there, and Americans too.  In Colmar you don't see people in the streets outside of bars, so this was a very exciting experience for me.    

On Saturday we walked around the town since I haven't been there in a few years.  It was funny to see the places I had been there.. I even remembered the restaurant that I ate at with my Mom, Ernie, Charlie, Matt and Shannon a few years ago.  We went shopping a little bit, walked through the flower markets, and most importantly, she took me to the genuine mexican-american burrito restaurant.  We don't get burritos in Alsace.  After that we went to her friends place who was having a cooking party, and I continued to eat the entire day.  That night we went out again with some of her friends.  

Easter Sunday we had the ultimate French experience : a Marseille soccer game.  Marseille is known for having crazy fans, and their team is really good.  So we went with some of Katie's friends and her roommates to experience it for ourselves.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, but the game was interesting anyways.  They won against Grenoble 4-1.  The fans were going crazyy.. they have these chants that each side of the stadium do back and forth to each other.  We definitely picked a good game to go to! 

Well I think that's all for now.  One thing I definitely realized during this weekend is that I am so happy I chose to live in the North.  I don't think I could handle the southern way of life!  I definitely prefer the people, the architecture, the climate, the cleanliness, etc., up here better. 

Creepy statue with a lady wearing a building as a hat..

Saturday Flower Markets
During the cooking party.. love the apron haha
Heading into the stadium in Marseille

This guy definitely felt really confident about his outfit.. Do you think it's maybe a little snug?

Pinch me.

Pinch me.  All I have to say about the weekend.  It can't be real!  On Thursday I went to meet up with my grandpa and Heidi in Switzerland for the weekend.  They took a 2 week cruise from Fort Lauderdale to come meet up with me here.  They are now on their way back to the States via the Queen Mary II.  Crazy trip.  

On Thursday night I got into Interlaken later (it's about 2 1/2 hrs from me) so we took some time to catch up.  On Friday Heidi and I got up early and headed to Grindelwald and Männlichen for a day of skiing!  Here is a map of the area so you can get an idea. The nicest ski resorts in Switzerland are only about a half hour away from Interlaken, so we of course had to take advantage.  We got on the slopes around 10:30.  First of all, there was NO ONE there.  We literally had the alps to ourselves.  Second of all, the weather was sooo beautiful.  There was nothing but blue skies and alps in our view!  I took a million pictures but honestly it just doesn't turn out the way that it really looks.  We skied for a few hours, and then took a quick break to shed about 5 of our layers off.  I missed the memo that you can pretty much go skiing in the Spring wearing a t-shirt. I think maybe being naked would have even been more comfortable.  I also missed the memo to wear sunscreen.  Since my pale body hasn't seen sunlight for about 6 months, my face got fried as usual.  It's also super cool because I was wearing a headband on half of my forehead, so I have a really cute line going across it now. It's a good thing I have some bangs that I can cover that up with. 

After an amazing day of skiing, we went back to poor Poppy, who we had left at the hotel all day.  We went out to dinner for our "après-ski" and found a cute authentic Swiss restaurant right next to our hotel.  This is where I discovered "rosti" which is shredded potatoes with bacon and cheese.  It tastes like notso fries from Yours Truly, only 100 times better.  

On Saturday we took a train ride back up the Alps, to two towns called Lauterbrunnen and Mürren. Once again, perfect weather and beautiful scenery!  We took a train to Lauterbrunnen, a gondola up the mountain and then a train across to Mürren.  They are just little ski towns with cute little Swiss chalets!  Looking at these towns I seriously feel like I am at Disney World.. it can't be real!  

Saturday night Megan (friend from Zurich) came and met up with us in Interlaken.  We walked around the town, and had yet another Rosti dinner at the same restaurant.  It was so good I had to go back for more.  We also celebrated my "birthday" on this night (thank you Poppy for being a great liar) and got some free dessert.   

On Sunday, we took a scenic train ride called the "Golden Pass" through Switzerland, heading south towards Geneva.  We spent like 3 hours on a train, went to Lucerne, stayed for an hour, and headed back towards France.  Lots of trains! We were all kinda crabby on this day.  Now, we got back to Colmar, all ready to go home/to their hotel, go our separate ways and have some time to ourselves.  Well we get off the train, and who do we see?  Heidi's uncle and aunt from Germany.  They drove all the way to Colmar and somehow found us at the train station!  We still haven't figured out how they knew where to find us, but it worked out perfectly.  So we went to dinner, I went home, and it was back to work yesterday!  I am exhausted.  Yeah yeah I know, all I do is travel.  But seriously it is exhausting!  Also, yesterday, Poppy and Heidi came to school with me for a little bit.  They met one of my classes, and Poppy obviously explained to my students that he was John Wayne's brother.  Haha.  They were a little confused I think.  

Ok that's all for now!  Next weekend onto Aix-en-Provence for Easter....